Total housing starts increased 9.7% (7.3% y/y) during January to 1.326
million (AR) from 1.209 million in December, revised from 1.192 million. It was
the highest level of starts since October 2016. A level of 1.227 million starts
had been expected in the Action Economic Forecast Survey.

Movement in starts last month varied around the country.
Housing starts in the West gained 10.7% to 393,000, the highest level since
December 2006. Starts in the South increased 9.3% to 655,000 after an 11.3% fall.
Starts in the Northeast jumped 45.3% to 128,000, the highest level in three
months. In the Midwest, starts declined 10.2% to 150,000, the lowest level since
March of last year.

Building permits increased 7.4% both m/m and y/y to 1.396
million after a 0.2% December dip. Single-family permits declined 1.7% (+7.4%
y/y) to 866,00 and reversed December's gain. Permits to build multi-family homes
jumped 26.5% (+7.3% y/y) to 530,000, after falling 4.3%.

The housing starts and permits figures can be found in
Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.